E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

Monday, June 20, 2011

"Green," right down to the lunch carts

They haven't even broken ground yet on the Oregon Sustainability Center, but already Portland State University's nutritional experts have begun planning the menu for the innovative communal food court that is expected to be located on the ground floor of the building near the streetcar stop. The entree selections, designed to reinforce the LEED-platinum facility's overarching theme of "net-zero" waste, are being described as "predominantly Asian fusion." They're previewed here.

The "Sustainability Center" is already green; there's no need for construction.

I walk through that empty parking lot each morning on my way from the bus stop, past the Streetcar stop, along the Streetcar line, to my building. Thanks to my walking, and riding a bus that gets better fuel mileage (on a per-passenger basis) than 90% of the Toyota Priuses I pass every day with just ONE sole occupant in them, I put out fewer carbon emissions than the Streetcar does buying power from PGE's Boardman Power Plant. Plus, by TriMet's refusal to buy new buses, the carbon footprint involved in the manufacture of a new bus (and transporting that new bus to Portland) is saved; while the Streetcars currently in service were built in Eastern Europe, presumably with very dirty coal or nuclear power.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 66
At this date last year: 144
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269